Top Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

I believe in confidence. With confidence I can accomplish any goal, overcome any deficit, and conquer any problem. This is why I maintain a high self- confidence level. I always want to be able to climb that mountain, come back when I am down by five in the ninth inning, and I always face my fears. Confidence makes me invincible.

Without confidence however, I am weak. My defenses drop and I am open for failure to attack I become completely discouraged, which causes my self-confidence level to drop. Once my confidence level drops, it feels impossible to bring back up. This is why I never let failure get to me. Instead, I use it as a teacher. I understand the mistakes I make and then I fix them. This is why I always keep my confidence level high.

I remember one time I was wrestling in a tournament. I had already lost a match and I was facing elimination. My opponent was very strong and knew what he was doing. By the end of the first period, I was down by three. He took me down twice, and I escaped once making the score four to three. In the second period, he chose the down position. When the whistle blew, he immediately got to his feet for a quick escape, now I was down by four. The rest of the period, I fought with my opponent for a takedown. I knew I needed to score before the end of the period. Unfortunately, he had a quick shot and took me down for two more points. However, I kept my cool and hit a quick Granby roll to get an escape point right before time expired.

Victory was looking bleak, there was one period to go and I was down by five. However, I never lost confidence in myself. I knew my opponent could not hold me down and it was my turn to choose a position. Of course I chose bottom. When both of us became set the referee blew the whistle, and I immediately exploded up before my opponent knew what hit him. I hit a standing switch which gave me two more points. I was now down by three, and I could tell my opponent was getting tired. I had too much adrenaline pumping in me to feel that exhaustion was starting to kick in. I threw in the double chicken wing, which is an arm bar. I cranked it as hard as I could and I got him to roll over onto his back. When I heard the referee blow the whistle I was overwhelmed with happiness. I had won the match because I kept a high confidence level.

Without self confidence I not only would have lost this match, but I would have lost in school and in life. My high confidence makes me who I am and this is why I believe in confidence.

Essay of the Week

When she was young, Lauren LeBlanc had grand dreams of living in New York and singing on Broadway. Instead, she became a mom and schoolteacher in suburbia. While it’s not the life she once imagined, LeBlanc now knows she wouldn’t have it any other way. Click here to read her essay.